California Coastal Cleanup Day has been happening every year for the last 30 years, and this year because of the predicted El Nino, it could be more important than ever.The statewide cleanup happens every third Saturday of September after the summer has left recreation sites full of trash and before the rains have a chance to take the garbage out to sea."Making sure we get it all up off the grounds and where it is supposed to be is really important before these big rain storms," said Rachel Kippen, with Save Our Shores.SOS is organizing 74 cleanup sites in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties this year and about 20 of them at inland sites, like the Pajaro River and Elkhorn Slough."Inland is where our watershed starts, so all of that trash will eventually fall into the Monterey Bay, so that is where we want to start, where it all begins," said Bronti Patterson, the volunteer coordinator for SOS.This year, the mission is even more important. After several dry winters, the worry is a big flush from the predicted El Nino could push debris that's been building up for years out into the ocean."What it could do, essentially, any debris anything that's in our streets, potentially, could go down our storm drains, go straight into the Monterey Bay, go into our rivers, our creeks, all end up then flushing to the lowest point," said Kippen.Last year, 67,000 people showed up to help on California Coastal Cleanup Day, picking up more than a million pounds of trash, and Patterson said that kind of manpower makes for thorough cleanups."Pretty much, every piece of the beach or river, it gets attention, and so with that many volunteers, we can get way more than 25 people at a beach," she said.In 2014, almost 4,000 people came out to help on the central coast, and SOS is hoping this year the numbers will be even bigger.

MONTEREY, Calif. —

California Coastal Cleanup Day has been happening every year for the last 30 years, and this year because of the predicted El Nino, it could be more important than ever.

The statewide cleanup happens every third Saturday of September after the summer has left recreation sites full of trash and before the rains have a chance to take the garbage out to sea.

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"Making sure we get it all up off the grounds and where it is supposed to be is really important before these big rain storms," said Rachel Kippen, with Save Our Shores.

SOS is organizing 74 cleanup sites in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties this year and about 20 of them at inland sites, like the Pajaro River and Elkhorn Slough.

"Inland is where our watershed starts, so all of that trash will eventually fall into the Monterey Bay, so that is where we want to start, where it all begins," said Bronti Patterson, the volunteer coordinator for SOS.

This year, the mission is even more important. After several dry winters, the worry is a big flush from the predicted El Nino could push debris that's been building up for years out into the ocean.

"What it could do, essentially, any debris anything that's in our streets, potentially, could go down our storm drains, go straight into the Monterey Bay, go into our rivers, our creeks, all end up then flushing to the lowest point," said Kippen.

Last year, 67,000 people showed up to help on California Coastal Cleanup Day, picking up more than a million pounds of trash, and Patterson said that kind of manpower makes for thorough cleanups.

"Pretty much, every piece of the beach or river, it gets attention, and so with that many volunteers, we can get way more than 25 people at a beach," she said.

In 2014, almost 4,000 people came out to help on the central coast, and SOS is hoping this year the numbers will be even bigger.